Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Sells 16,647 Shares of Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC reduced its stake in shares of Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 125,568 shares of the company’s stock after selling 16,647 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Weatherford International were worth $10,234,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Weatherford International by 1,040.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,244,464 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,392,000 after buying an additional 1,135,338 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 34.0% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 71,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,615,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224 shares during the last quarter. GeoSphere Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Weatherford International by 70.0% during the 4th quarter. GeoSphere Capital Management LLC now owns 42,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,326,000 after purchasing an additional 17,500 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Weatherford International by 13.8% during the 1st quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 171,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,218,000 after purchasing an additional 20,803 shares during the period. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Weatherford International in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,389,000. 97.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on WFRD. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Weatherford International from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on Weatherford International from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Weatherford International from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Zacks Research downgraded Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Weatherford International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $113.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Neal P. Goldman sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total transaction of $1,357,440.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 12,187 shares in the company, valued at $1,033,945.08. The trade was a 56.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Benjamin Duster sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.09, for a total transaction of $516,540.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 11,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $963,088.83. This represents a 34.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 26,094 shares of company stock worth $2,244,487. 2.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Weatherford International Stock Performance

NASDAQ WFRD opened at $92.70 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $6.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.87. Weatherford International PLC has a 52-week low of $54.69 and a 52-week high of $113.15. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $88.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $96.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.35). The company had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 21.50% and a net margin of 7.66%.The firm’s revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.87 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Weatherford International Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 6th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 6th. Weatherford International’s payout ratio is currently 21.70%.

Weatherford International Profile

Weatherford International (NASDAQ: WFRD) is a global oilfield services company specializing in the development, design and manufacturing of equipment and technologies for oil and natural gas drilling, evaluation, completion and production. The company’s core offerings include well construction services such as directional drilling and wellbore positioning, well completion solutions that encompass sand control and zonal isolation technologies, and production enhancement services involving artificial lift systems and well intervention tools.

In addition to its comprehensive service lines, Weatherford provides a range of drilling optimization and reservoir evaluation products.